A couple of years ago when my boyfriend and I were trying to choose a new restaurant to eat at on Valentine's day, we stumbled across Banana Tree. Since then we have been regular visitors of theirs and it has fast become our favourite restaurant for both it's food and it's friendly and unique atmosphere. Banana Tree serve Indochinese cuisine and everything on the menu is different to anything I've tried anywhere else.
The first thing you notice after being greeted by staff who are always friendly is how city cool the restaurant really is. You will find couples, girlfriends, families and people eating on their own scattered around the restaurant. We arrived at about six o'clock and it was fairly quiet inside but within ten minutes the restaurant was buzzing. Banana Tree have several restaurants, with most of them being in London and we have always visited the Soho branch which I think makes the atmosphere even more interesting, although I think we will try out the one in Angel next time to see what it's like there!
So onto the food... We generally order four starters but they can be quite filling so two would also be sufficient for two people - we just like to go all out at our favourite restaurant! On this occasion we ordered sticky thai wings, street style crispy dough, meatball wraps and double cooked crispy pork. Honestly the starters at Banana Tree are incredible. Each dish has such unique flavours and cooked to perfection. We have tried the majority of the dishes and not a single one is a let down - you will love them all equally. Saying that, if I had to choose my favourite dip, it would hands down be the satay sauce (anything which is remotely related to peanut butter is a winner for me).
For my main I had 'crispy chicken with mango and sweet lime sauce'. This comes with a couple of falafels, perfectly cooked sticky jasmine rice, a side salad with immense flavours and prawn crackers. Every bite is a new flavour on this dish and it is so refreshing to eat a meal with such incredible flavours. The crispy chicken comes in a dish with a slightly thick, mango and lime sauce and they make the best combination. I don't know how the chicken stays so perfectly crispy in it's bed of sauce but it does and I wish I knew the secret to it.
My boyfriend had 'sweet and sour crispy chicken' which came with vegetables as well as everything else that I had on my plate. I am a big fan of sweet and sour and after having a spoonful of his, I knew I would be going for his option in an upcoming visit. The dishes are very reasonably priced and whenever you buy the crispy chicken in mango and lime dish, Banana Tree donate 25p to the Orangutan appeal who they have been working with since 2012. I think this is such a lovely idea and it makes me enjoy my favourite dish even more!
For dessert we had 'coconut stuffed green thai pancakes' which are filled with caramelised coconut and sesame seeds and served with vanilla ice cream. They are absolutely delicious and even if you don't feel up to a dessert, I would highly recommend either attempting to share them or get them to take away. They are so rich in flavour and the ice cream compliment the warm, caramelised nuts perfectly. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the pancakes... maybe I got too excited and all matters not related to pancakes slipped my mind!?
I must mention our waiter on this occasion too; his name was Alexander and he gave us such excellent service! He was so friendly and went out of his way to make sure that we had the best experience possible. Most importantly he chased up our pancakes - even though we had only been waiting two minutes for them! He definitely had his priorities in order. He even offered to take a photo of us. I hope you enjoyed this post and it has persuaded you to visit a Banana Tree. I promise you wont be disappointed and it might even become your favourite restaurant too!
Have a great week,
Hayley xx